Well said!

On Thu, Nov 30, 2023, 10:43 AM Tarter, Brent (LVA) <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> In several very real senses, all historical works are revisionist;
> otherwise, they's just repetitions of old interpretations.
>
> Every time that we discover new information we have to re-evaluate what we
> thought that we knew about an event in the past. And, as the Uncommonwealth
> blog indicates, re-evaluating old evidence often leads to changed
> understandings about the past.
>
> We had discussions of this in 2020 when Confederate monuments were under
> maximum criticism and being taken down. Neither re-interpreting nor
> revising is erasing or changing history. History is what happened. We can't
> and don't change that; but we do often-times revise how we think about the
> past and what historical events may mean.
>
> Back at the centennial anniversary of the American Civil War, the
> prevailing interpretation stressed states' rights, battlefield bravery, and
> death, which almost entirely ignored the most important consequences of the
> Civil War, which were preservation of representative democracy and of the
> free labor economy and the abolition of slavery; but by the time of the
> 150th anniversary, we acknowledged those critically important ingredients
> and incorporated them into our historical narratives and understandings.
>
> People shouldn't be afraid to think for themselves and should be willing
> to change their minds. That is what people do who continue their educations
> beyond the elementary level. I know. I've been reading about and studying
> Virginia's history for more than 50 years and have changed my mind on many
> things as a result of my discoveries and the scholarship of other people
> who have found new information or re-evaluated old information.
>
> Brent Tarter
>
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